Second Session: Shortly before the adjournment of the second session of the ICAO Council, a resolution was unanimously adopted accepting for the permanent organization the responsibilities imposed upon the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization under the International Agreement on North Atlantic Ocean Weather Stations concluded in London on September 25, 1946. The Council also approved the sending of a technical mission in answer to Iceland's request for financial aid, and authorized the Secretary General (Roper) to assume certain responsibilities for the premises of the International Commission for Air Navigation and for the distribution of its assets. The Council ended its second session on December 12, 1947.

Although devoting its attention primarily to preparatory work for the Second Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the ICAO Council during its third session also approved the first sets of International Standards and Recommended Practices designed to produce uniform operation of international air transport. The standards, which were the results of studies conducted by the organization since its inception in 1944, dealt with personnel licensing, rules of the air, meteorological codes, aeronautical charts, and dimensional units to be used in air-ground communications. The Council asked that all member states incorporate the Standards into their national legislation as nearly as possible in the exact terminology used by ICAO, giving the closest possible approach to absolute uniformity.

On October 20 the Fund issued its second financial statement for the quarter ended August 31,1947. Authorized subscriptions of members had increased from the equivalent of $7,721.5 million to the equivalent of $7,921.5 million when Australia accepted membership in the Organization, and the equivalent of $6,579.2 million had been paid by members by August 31, as contrasted to $6,519.9 million at the end of the first financial quarter. The Fund's holdings of gold were estimated at $1,345.0 million for the period reviewed, and its holdings of currencies (including non-negotiable and non-interest bearing notes) amounted to the equivalent of $5,232.6 million.

The thirty-first session of the ILO Conference opened on June 17, 1948, in San Francisco. Six new members — Burma, Ceylon, El Salvador, Syria, Pakistan, and the Philippines — attended the session; Yugoslavia sent no representative after having given notice of pending withdrawal. The agenda of the conference included: 1) a report by Edward Phelan, Director-General of the International Labor Office; 2) the organization's 1949 budget; 3) reports on the application of conventions; 4) employment service organization, including the consideration of the adoption of a convention providing for national employment services; 5) vocational guidance; 6) payment of fair wages on government contracts and establishment of measures to protect wages; 7) freedom of association and protection of the right to organize; 8) industrial relations, including methods of guaranteeing the right to organize, collective bargaining, conciliation and arbitration, and cooperation between governments and management and labor organizations; 9) revision of a convention regulating night work of women; 10) revision of a convention regulating night work of young persons; and 11) privileges and immunities of ILO.

Report to the Economic and Social Council: The International Labor Organization submitted to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations on, September 29, 1947 a report on its activities during the year 1947. This report, the first of a regular series which ILO had agreed to submit regularly (Article V paragraph 2(a) of the Agreement between the United Nations and the ILO), included background information and covered the period from the establishment of the United Nations to July 15, 1947. This report dealt with the decisions of five successive sessions of the International Labor Conference, i.e., those held in Philadelphia, May 1947, in Paris, October–November 1945, in Seattle, June 1946, in Montreal, September–October 1946, and in Geneva, June–July 1947. Future reports, it was announced, would cover only one year's work. The report was accompanied by a volume containing a series of appendices which included the text of the Constitution of ILO as amended by the 1946 Instrument of Amendment, the text of the Agreement between the United Nations and ILO, a list of the committees of ILO, a list of meetings convened by ILO as well as meetings of other international organizations at which ILO was represented during the period covered by the report, a list of and the texts of Conventions, Recommendations, and some of the Resolutions adopted by the International Labor Conference, resolutions adopted by the third Conference of American States Members of ILO, held in 1946, and the text of the agreement between ILO and FAO.

Despite the fact that the General Assembly of the United Nations established a budget of $155,860,500 for first year of operation of the IRO, as of September, 1947, contributions were at the rate of only $90,000,000 a year, and actual payments represented only one-fourth of the annual contributions of the twelve member governments. With these funds the Preparatory Commission, which had taken over operational activities of UNRRA and IGC on June 30, 1947, maintained 640,000 people in European and Middle Eastern camps, and was providing legal assistance and administrative aid to 900,000 others not in camps. Food and transportation was being given those who voluntarily returned to their former homes, and the immigration of some 12,000 people who monthly moved to new countries was being aided.

In June 1948 the International Monetary Fund reported that its activities during the preceding nine months had been focused on offering temporary financial assistance to its members for monetary stabilization operations and on consultation on exchange problems. The Fund had prepared several special studies for member nations and had sent missions of technical advice and expert assistance to a number of countries.

As early as January 19, 1948, the press reported that the devaluation of the French franc was under consideration by the French Government as a measure to stimulate French exports. Lengthy consultations between the French Director of the Fund (Mendès-France) and other officials of the Fund gave rise to the belief that agreement would be reached whereby the Fund could approve some devaluation of the franc. However, on January 25 the Fund announced that it could not permit the devaluation and that it regretted the decision of the French Government to proceed without the Fund's permission. Following French devaluation the following day, the Fund stated that it would continue to “work with the French Government in seeking a modification of these exchange practices in order to meet French needs within the framework of the international monetary arrangements established by the Fund Agreement.” The Fund subsequently accepted a provisional adjustment in its holdings of the franc from approximately 67,940 million to 122,292 million, representing an 80 per cent increase over January 24, 1948.

Three conferences were held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from May 15 to October 2, 1947, under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union. These three, the International Telecommunications Plenipotentiary Conference, and two special conferences dealing with radio and high frequency broadcasting, considered a number of technical changes in existing conventions and reorganized the structure of the International Telecommunications Union as a whole.

In accordance with a resolution adopted by the General Assembly November 17, 1947, and a resolution of the Economic and Social Council of March 1, 1948, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) requested Carl J. Hambro (Norway) and Pierce Williams (United States) to prepare a report on the progress and prospect of repatriation, resettlement and immigration of displaced per- sons and refugees, for submission to the seventh session of ECOSOC. In describing the work of the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization in the field of repatriation and resettlement, the report pointed to the difficulty which the commission faced in making policy decisions since its constitution had not been ratified by the necessary number of governments to enable the permanent organization to come into existence.

At its fifth session, held in Geneva from January 20 to 31, 1948, the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization made three major decisions on policy. The first of these decisions was designed to limit the number of refugees and displaced persons eligible for resettlement by setting February 1, 1948 as the date after which no refugees could be accepted for care and maintenance by PCIRO. Final action on this proposal was to be taken by the General Council of IRO, which would come into being following ratification of the IRO Constitution by two more Members of the United Nations. These ratifications were expected early in 1948; until they were deposited the commission adopted a resolution limiting to hardship cases new admissions to care and maintenance. This action was made necessary by financial limitations, which made it impossible for the Organization to provide help for an indefinite period of time for all persons who were or might become eligible for aid.

The Geneva meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the International Conference on Trade and Employment, in session from April 10 to October 30,1947, had the twofold task of completing the charter for an International Trade Organization and carrying out detailed negotiations among the 18 countries for a general agreement on tariffs and trade. Work on the charter was completed on August 22, 1947, when in plenary session the Preparatory Committee adopted the draft document. On October 30, representatives of 23 countries signed the Final Act, thus completing over 100 separate negotiations for the purpose of reducing trade barriers of various types. The results were incorporated in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The sixth meeting of the International Telegraph Consultative Committee was held in Brussels from May 10 to 27, 1948, the first meeting of the committee since 1936. C. Caenepenne, head of the Belgian delegation, was elected chairman of the conference, and E. C. Smith, head of the South African delegation, was elected vice-chairman. Committee reports presented to the conference included studies of the quality of transmission, standardization of telegraphic devices, relays, and general telegraphic and telephonic problems. Organizational matters for the interim period between meetings of the committee were discussed and a budget accepted. The seventh meeting of the Consultative Committee was scheduled for 1951 in the Netherlands.

Second Session of the Administrative Council: The second session of the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunications Union met in Geneva from January 20 to February 11, 1948 in accordance with a resolution adopted at the Council's first session at Atlantic City in September 1947. Chairman of the second session was Francis Colt de Wolf (United States) who was elected as interim chairman in place of Mr. Fortouchenko (USSR) who could not attend the meeting because of illness. Despite considerable initial difficulty the Council adopted approximately 35 resolutions, decisions, or opinions. Its most important administrative and financial decisions had to do with: 1) the budget of three million Swiss francs which had been set at Atlantic City and was approved by this session; 2) the transfer of the general secretariat of the Union from Beme to Geneva which, because of financial difficulties, was deferred until January 1, 1949; 3) the decision to transfer the secretariat and laboratories of the International Telephone Consultative Committee (CCIF) to Geneva as the expense of moving could be met by the CCIF itself. In addition the Council heard the reports of its various commissions and considered the relationship of ITU to other international organizations and conferences. The lack of coordination between the secretariats of ITU and the United Nations was noted, and the Union's Secretary-General directed to bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment: The Conference, which was convened by the Economic and Social Council at Havana on November 21, 1947, ended on March 24, 1948 when representatives of 53 countries signed the Final Act of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, which included the Charter of the International Trade Organization. Of the 56 eligible nations, three did not sign; Argentina and Poland had previously announced their abstentions and the Turkish delegation stated that its instructions had been delayed. The Final Act committed the delegations to submit the Charter to their governments for ratification. The Charter was to enter into effect 60 days after a majority (27) of the signatories ratified the document. If, by March 24, 1949, this requirement had not been fulfilled then 20 ratifications were to be adequate; if by September 30, 1949, these ratifications had not been made, the Secretary-General of the United Nations was to invite the governments which had ratified to confer for the purpose of determining on what conditions they desired to bring the Charter into effect.

The second session of the Executive Committee of the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization was convened in Geneva on August 25, 1948. Among the items discussed were 1) a report of the work of the secretariat and its information activities, 2) relations with the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the International Court of Justice, 3) financial and staff regulations for the permanent Organization, 4) a report by the secretariat on the Havana resolution relating to economic development and reconstruction, and 5) representation of the Interim Commission on the Interim Coordinating Committee for International Commodity Agreements. Consultations were held with the Secretariat of the United Nations and Registry of the International Court of Justice in connection with the preparation of agreements bringing the ITO into relationship with these two organizations.

General Conference: The second general conference of UNESCO met in Mexico City on November 7, 1947, and elected Manuel Gual Vidal, Mexican Minister of Education, as Chairman. Four additional states — Italy, Switzerland, Hungary and Austria — were admitted to membership, the first two by unanimous vote, and the Spanish Republican Government in Exile was invited to attend the conference as an observer. Items on the agenda included a) consideration of the Director-General's report for 1947; b) approval of a budget for 1948; c) extension of the work of UNESCO to Germany; and d) a report on the definition of the scope and purpose of UNESCO's fundamental education project.

The Mexico City Conference of UNESCO allocated the following amounts to the program budgets: reconstruction, $614,141; fundamental education, $255,035; education for international understanding, $433,584; mass communications, $944,797; natural science field stations, $311,261; Hylean Amazon project, $55,750; study of social tensions, $159,732; exchange of persons, $130,420; exchange of information, $423,302; and national commissions and cooperating bodies, $52,109. Specific progress was made on a number of these projects during the period under review.

Education: A report prepared for submission to the seventh session of the Economic and Social Council showed that seventy-five percent of funds available to UNESCO in the first three months of 1948 were allocated for the emergency purchase and distribution of books, educational material, scientific and technical equipment. In the fundamental education program for 1948, the two main elements were: 1) the establishment of a clearing-house of information through which techniques and methpds of education would be collected, analyzed and disseminated to member states; and 2) the giving of aid to member states in conducting pilot projects in Haiti, China, British East Africa and Peru, which aimed at abolishing illiteracy. From April 26 to May 1, experts on fundamental education met in Paris to discuss plans for future action.

The twelfth Congress of the Universal Postal Union, which was held in Paris from May 6 to July 5,1947, was the first post-war meeting of the Congress, and in consequence was faced with questions of administrative and procedural as well as substantive character. An agenda of some 700 items was considered by delegates by 76 countries, and a number of changes in the basic framework of the Union were made.